Land Lubber

Nelson, Hornblower, Bothilo and Jack Aubrey are historical and fictional heroes from the Age of Sail. An era where a ship's captain took on a romantic demeanour, in many ways like a mediaeval knight, as his vessel ploughed the oceans in search of adventure and glory. Despite the apparent appeal of these heroes, naval wargaming has never achieved the attention of its land-based equivalents. Before starting this project, I had to learn more about this genre and the specialist maritime language.

Naval Gaming - The Learning Barrier

I have made several abortive attempts at naval gaming but have yet to overcome the learning barrier. Recently, Long Face Games' set of naval wargames rules has persuaded me to have another go. I decided on three periods. First, the classic Age of Sail and the nautical heroes it attracted. Second, the ancient period because I have a long-term project on the First Punic War. A conflict where naval engagements were critical to winning the land war. Last is World War II, something entirely outside my comfort zone, but I have recently read some books on the naval conflicts in the Mediterranean. A theatre of warfare I constantly return, whatever the period. However, the rest of this blog is about my entry into the Age of Sail, particularly from 1793-1816.

Scale

The aim was to focus on fleet and squadron actions in the period rather than individual ship actions. I am more interested in the problems of command than seamanship. I also wanted a tabletop game rather than a board game. This brought in the need for scale because my wargames table is 6’ x 4’, and sea battles could roam over miles of ocean. I, therefore, decided on 1:2400 and the range supplied by Magister Militium because of the breadth of its coverage. Tumbling Dice also produces nice ships, but these are larger than the Hallmark and GHQ ships marketed by Magister Militum.

Low Entry Cost

Assembling my starter fleets highlighted one of the advantages of naval wargaming—the low entry costs. The workhorse ship, for fleet actions, the 3rd Rate cost under seven pounds (2023 prices), and my first project to refight the Battle of Cape Ortegal involved eight 3rd Rates and 3 or 4 frigates. A total outlay of under £85 as the terrain was the open ocean, some blue cloth would suffice.

Rules

However, like all my projects, I buy many rule books before venturing into my first game. The rules I checked out were.

Grand Fleet Actions by Andrew Finch and Alan Butler, A & A Game Engineering

Far and Distant Ships by David Manley, Long Face Games

Fighting Sail by Ryan Miller, Osprey Publishing

Fire as She Bears by Phil C Fry, Starboard Tack Press

Kiss Me, Hardy, by Nic Skinner, Two Fat Lardies

This list needs to be completed; several rule sets mentioned in the gaming forums are not included because I wanted to keep to a tight budget.

Reading List

Barry (2017), Far Distant Ships: The Royal Navy and the Blockade of Breast 1793-1815.

Davey (2015), In Nelson's Wake; The Navy and the Napoleonic Wars.

Fremont-Barnes

Knight (2022), Convoys: The British Struggle Against the Napoleonic Empire.

Willis (2008), Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century.

Winfield (2005), The British Warfare in the Age of Sail (1793-1817).

Next Step.

The following blog looks at the rules, yes, more than one set, I plan to use in my refight of Cape Ortegal.

Workbench 2023

This blog is self-indulgent; it is just a list of the projects I hope to complete in 2023. However, it might give the reader inspiration or ideas for their games. Like most wargamers, I have long project lists, which I am always willing to add despite their minimal chances of reaching the table.

My Campaigns

My first group are those projects I started in 2022 and need to continue or complete. Overall, in 2022 I was better at getting games to the table and averaged about two games a month. I also started two campaigns. The first is a Fantastic Battles campaign, using my own campaign rules to fight the 2nd Shadow Wars. In 2023 I need to continue to develop the rules and move to the next campaign year as an Umbarji (Orc) civil war begins to brew. The second is my Pulp Alley campaign, Tomb of the Serpent, which has now moved to Cario as the heroes try to stop the ancient Egyptian god, Apophis. 

Strength & Honour and Lion Rampant

The other two ‘banker’ games are Strength & Honour and Lion Rampant. For the former, 2023 is the year of the phalanx, as I see how the rules deal with these hedgehogs of the ancient world. Initially, the focus was on Rome’s wars against Mithradates, but the aim was to run a 1st Punic War or Hellenistic campaign. Hopefully, Mark Backhouse will have completed his early Roman supplement to the game and coupled with my research; the campaign will be ready to play in 2024. For Lion Rampart, the first objective is to play the last battle of my Feud campaign before moving eastwards to play something from the Early Medieval period, including the twelfth-century Latin East (Outremer).

Two other projects are centred around games that use the Lion Rampart framework. The first employs the ‘The Men Who Would be King’ (TMWWBK) rules, where the idea is to follow the campaigns of Neil’s Blue Caps (The 1st Madras Fusiliers) during the Indian Mutiny/Rebellion. Most of the preparation has been done, so I should be able to play the first game in 2023. The second is to use the 'Xenos Rampant' game to fight an alternative WWII setting, where Dad’s Army takes on Cthulhu-led Third Reich. This is planned for the last quarter of my painting schedule goes to plan.

God’s Scale 2mm.

The next group of projects centres around the 2mm and can be briefly but inaccurately described as Black Powder games. I recently played the Napoleonic corp-level game, Blucher, using card markers, which I found very enjoyable. I am looking at some other divisional/operational rules, and the plan is to play several Peninsula War battles at both the corp (battle) and divisional levels. The first battle on the list is Vimeiro (1808). The second element of the 2mm adventure is the English Civil War and other conflicts from the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. I will use the Twilight Rules (Divine Right and the Sun King). The first game will be the Battle of Cheriton (1644), followed by Edgehill (1642). I am also reading about other battles of this era and may try something from the Thirty Years' War or the Great Northern War. One of the Twilight rules is that they are well served with historical battle scenarios.

Naval Wargaming

Naval wargaming is the third main area and a genre often ignored by landlubbers. I plan to use small scales to refight some classic naval actions. The adventure starts with the Age of Sail, with a refight of small engagements after Trafalgar, Cape Ortegal (1805). Ecnomus (256 BCE) will be the ancient venture which will link into my preparations for a1st Punic War or Hellenistic campaign. Last on the list is Cape Matapan (1941) from WWII, a period I have never played before. For each period, the starting point is the rules by Long Face Games.

Workbench

The last area is my workbench, where I have several skirmish games. This range from swashbuckling rules, ‘Flashing Steel’ to the Superhero genre employing Four Color Studios rules. I also want to try out 7TV rules and scenarios because of the excellent narrative element. The last pile on the list is some old Kickstarter board games I need to play or sell. What's familiar about all the games on the workbench, they involve a small number of figures and terrain, which I already have in my collection.
The Brown Book Initiative

Brown Books!

I love to write down ideas and how my thinking on a game develops. This motivates the blog, but I wanted something more spontaneous. So I bought some cheap brown notebooks and labelled them for each project under development. Each book will have my thoughts on the scale, rules, some research and how I plan a game or campaign. These will feed into this blog here, so there is more of a narrative between blogs.
Closing Remarks

Well, it's longer than I thought, and I have bitten off too much, but isn't that what all wargamers do? To this list, I have to add the new shiny rules and figures that appear in 2023, which will distract me in new directions. Already, I heard that the Two Fat Lardies are publishing a western gunslinger skirmish game; now that is a setting I have not tried!

Enjoy your gaming.